UNPO Congratulates Biram Dah Abeid On 2nd Place In Mauritania’s Presidential Elections
Brussels, 1 July 2014 - On behalf of the UNPO Presidency, Secretariat and Members, we would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Biram Dah Abeid for his achievements in Mauritania’s presidential elections, which took place on 21 June 2014. Biram Dah Abeid may have come out second, but he led a historical campaign, which certainly deserves recognition. The odds that outgoing President Mohamed Abdel Aziz would win and remain in his position as President of Mauritania for the next five years were very high. This was not the case for Biram Dah Abeid, who had neither the experience nor the corrupt state apparatus working in his favor.
A Haratin and son of a slave, Biram Dah Abeid has dedicated his life to the defense of his people’s rights, and by doing so put his own safety at risk. Considering him as a troublemaking opponent, the Mauritanian authorities have repeatedly tried to stifle Mr. Dah Abeid, by preventing him from giving speeches, imprisoning him, and ultimately placing him under the threat of death penalty. Despite all this – or perhaps because of this – Biram Dah Abeid’s advocacy against injustices and human rights abuses has only intensified, bringing him large-scale international recognition, most notably in the form of the 2013 United Nation’s Human Rights Prize.
Biram Dah Abeid could have given up his struggle and refrained from running as a candidate for the Presidency, well aware that it was a losing battle. Yet, ever since he announced his participation to the elections in January of this year, he has led his campaign with pride and determination. The hardship he went through never discouraged him – not even the fact that his candidature was only officially accepted by the Mauritanian Constitutional Court late in May.
The strong call for a boycott of the elections by the opposition was unfortunately heard by most of the Mauritanians, as only 56% of the population actually went to the polls on 21 June. Besides, as Biram Dah Abeid deplored in his declaration of 24 June, the electoral process was undermined by many forms of fraud, which further discredits the reelection of Mohamed Abdel Aziz. An official request by Biram Dah Abeid in this regard has actually been rejected by Mauritanian authorities on 1st July. Nonetheless, the votes Biram Dah Abeid attracted – he reached 8.67% – give evidence that a significant part of the Mauritanian population believe in Biram Dah Abeid as a great hope for change.
Today, an increasing number of descendants of slaves (50-60% of the population) are learning that slavery is not, and never has been, a natural condition – something which their parents and grandparents, regularly abused by their owners, never knew. Change is definitely in progress in Mauritania, and Biram Dah Abeid is still playing an important role in it.
Once again, we would like to express our sincerest congratulations to Biram Dah Abeid and show our great support to his battle for human rights and democracy – a battle that is far from being over.
